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Comment by buildzr | Hacker News Reader

> We wouldn't tolerate the existence of an Islamist site that glorified and helped perpetrate mass incidents of terror against our society.

Speak for yourself, I would. I've downloaded and distributed ISIS propaganda videos before out of sheer intrigue.

Just because someone says something you don't like doesn't mean you should ban it. Of course, this will be downvoted to hell because this is a hot topic at the moment, but we shouldn't let that too-near emotion influence out policies. We've seen that lead to stuff like the PATRIOT act in the past and we surely don't need another one of those.

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Out of all the internet contrarian arguments Ive seen this is one of the best.

> Speak for yourself, I would. I've downloaded and distributed ISIS propaganda videos before out of sheer intrigue.

It will be downvoted because it's INSANE, not because it's a hot topic.

ISIS propaganda isn't banned for the fun of it or because "too near emotions influencing policies", it's banned for the effect that it casuses, the intention it has, and the attorcities it shows.

There's a difference between supporting free speech and you spreading around videos of murders, executions of innocent people who have families, and calls for more murders of innocent people all over the world. Just because those things don't make you want to kill someone, doesn't change the fact that they do help radicalize other people.

> it's banned for the effect that it casuses, the intention it has, and the attorcities it shows.

What rational person will see an ISIS video and go: "Hmm this looks good, guess I should join ISIS".

People aren’t rational. And many will.

When he distributed the content he didn't pick only the rational ones. Many people did exactly that, joining ISIS, traveling to Syria, doing terrorist attacks in their own countries.

They didn't get the ideas to do that out of the blue, without seeing or hearing any of the propaganda content.

Well, let's be clear, I simply downloaded a torrent and let it seed for a while.

You seem strongly opinionated on this one though, I'm curious, what do you think of Tor or BitTorrent? Should such services be banned as they aid in the distribution of this type of thing too? If you're running a Tor middle node you're part of the distribution of not just all sorts of propaganda like this, but far, far worse things.

Do you think banning these services, reigning in control of information to "help prevent radicalization" in a China-esque way would be a good decision? In my view this is just part of living in a free society, freedom sometimes costs security.

I don't think those services should be banned as that's not their only purpose. I do think that anyone knowingly spreading racist, extremist, terrorist material should be punished.

Platforms that can, but do not, enforce rules to remove such content should also be punished and forbidden.

I would not sacrifice the lives of the ones I love in the name of free speech. Promoting terrorist content increases ever so slightly the chances of your loved ones and your family being hurt by those who get radicalized due to such content.

If "China-esque way" is what it takes then so be it.

Interesting, most Tor operators are doing so because they feel that people should have a right to anonymity or an uncensored internet connection. I'd even argue that Tor trades lives in a far more direct way than 8chan ever could given that fentanyl and weapon sales as well as plotting of child abductions or slave sales occur right there.

Tor operators in doing so are making a choice: they feel the freedom of anonymity and speech are more important than human lives, even the lives of children.

I'd argue that running a Tor node is explicitly making that choice and that statement, so then it confuses me why you seem to be okay with Tor but more questioning of 8chan and similar services where the choice is made less directly. Is it a matter of having the ability to discern "good" uses from "evil"? You're surely accepting both uses by operating a Tor node and knowingly doing so, so I don't see how that makes sense.

If you want to look at gun laws on the other hand, that's a freedom for security trade that seems more debatable given that other countries have the same access to information, but not nearly the same gun violence problems.

That’s one way to get onto a list.

At a guess, you don't belong to, or have friends in, groups ISIS believes deserve to be put to death.

weird flex but ok

I've downloaded

and distributed ISIS propaganda videos

Do elaborate on your motives for and style of distribution.

Not him, but I would do it because I can.

Well, that could mean anything.

I mean this seriously, more Americans should see what those ISIS videos are like.

More Americans should read the writings of Osama bin Laden too.

It's not that this material isn't horrendous, but it's very different from what you'd expect -- the people behind it are not dumb, and like all good propaganda the rationale is selectively built on compelling facts.

Why?

Damn that's cool as hell. Maybe you have some balisong tricks you'd also like to show me?

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